Yashica Electro 35

I ran across this Electro 35 in a bin, and remembered that I had the adapter for the battery in my battery box.

I was meeting a few friends on Capitol Hill, so loaded a 35mm film cassette with some bulk 1996 TMAX (ISO 400), set the camera to ISO 100, and tried some street shooting.    Actually, I re-used a commercially released cassette, taping the bulk film to the remaining stub of film.  I’d read about this, and it was easy.

I wanted to shoot a little unnoticed, so I set the camera to  f/11 or f/16, and zone focused.   I only looked through the viewfinder some of the time.   I wanted to imitate the style of my friend DevTank, who shoots high contrast and darker street photography.

This girl skips up down the street on Capitol Hill.

Then I had a few drinks with friends.

I noticed how well the sun reflected off her hand to illuminate her face, and had her do it again.

The Electro 35 is a good and capable camera, and not hard to use.  Its silver body makes it look like a classic rangefinder, and its pretty darn affordable.   On Ebay, I see that they’re selling for between $15 to $25, mostly.  I have the f/1.7 version.   45mm lens.

Should I keep it?  Will I shoot with it again?  It’s not valuable enough to bother to sell.  Back in the bin it goes.  🙂   I am not a camera hoarder.  I am not a camera hoarder.  I am not a camera hoarder.  I am not a camera hoarder.  I am not a camera hoarder.  I am not a camera hoarder.  I am not a camera hoarder.  I am not a camera hoarder.